With only four offensive starters returning this spring, and only one returnee on defense, there is obviously much work to be done before facing off with Florida’s talented Gators next fall.

QBs: I think we can all step back from the ledge a bit in knowing that the quarterback positon is in fine shape, in spite of the fact that Wilton Speight had a surprisingly tough outing in the spring game Saturday.

Facing stern pressure in the first quarter (from the first defense), and throughout the game, Wilton never had the benefit of the first offensive line as it was split. Brandon Peters had the advantage of a better OL line. Like last year early, Wilton did not seem in touch with his receivers. Wilton’s QB stock wilted some in the game, but he will fight back, and is still the best bet to be the season starter.

His two interceptions hurt. One was on a magnificent play by Viper Jordan Glasgow, who cut in front of the receiver and hustled the football 101-yards for an outstanding pick six. Beautiful nab and run as Glasgow twice evaded closing pursuit. I interviewed him at length at last year’s media day, when he was totally unknown as an M football player, and was masked by the towering shadows of his bigger lineman brothers, Graham and Ryan. He may be smaller, but Ryan is missing a front tooth courtesy of Jordan. The Glasgow family football toughness and smarts are his too, even if in a smaller package. He will compete for time at the Viper position (hybrid LB, safety, and nickel position). Jordan now sports an enormous mane that his helmet can’t hide. It was fun watching that flow behind him as he ran warp speed for six.

The other Wilton pick six, was a nifty nab by Brandon Watson.

There is no question that Brandon Peters had the better day at QB Saturday. He was 9 of 17 for 160-yards. He tossed a 55-yarder to Zach Gentry for the game’s first TD. He also scooted diagonally into the end zone on a remarkable 12-yard TD run. His strong arm was evident whenever he was at the helm.

I don’t think he can unseat Wilton yet, but the battle is going to be fierce, and it might get close. Newcomer CB Benjamin St. Juste made an outstanding interception to give Peters his worst moment of an otherwise sterling performance.

All this competition is good for the most important position group on the team. Two good QBs are a must for success and the Wolverines will have them no matter which one starts. The offense amassed 6 TDs.

The other QBs will be pushed by John O’Korn. John tossed a pretty TD pass to Tarik Black late in the game. The offense amassed 6 TDs. They constantly tested the edge.

OL: Of course it is tough to quantify the OL at this time. The number one line is no surprise. Cole, Bredeson, Kugler, Onwenu, and John Runyan, Jr. constituted the best line, the Maize line. The second will have some pieces of note to develop, like big Cesar Ruiz, and others. This position group will have many interchangeable parts, and will probably need them. But it is impossible to judge them as a unit at this time, though they seemed improved.

There were some individual key performances. A nice Bredeson block on Peters TD illustrates one of them. Cole played LT and Kugler manned the center position to start the game.

RECEIVERS: Fifteen different receivers played. The standout was Tarik Black who was active all afternoon and culminated his performance with a great TD catch near the end of the game. He is tall and a leaper. They kept going back to him. Freshman WR Nate Schoenle had two receptions totaling 58-yards.

RBs: Ty Isaac led the backs with 5 carries for 47-yards, and had a nifty 28-yard visit to the end zone. Karan Higdon had 2 TDs and a nice performance on the day. Kareem Walker looked good as he made a hard inside run breaking tackles. Walker was later dinged, left the field, but returned.

TE’s: Sean McKeon got some work, Tyrone Wheatley, Jr. made a catch. Ian Bunting was not afforded a catch. The position seemed to me to block well. As mentioned previously, TE Zach Gentry collared a 55-yard TD. The position seemed to block well.

[ngg_images source=”galleries” container_ids=”140″ display_type=”photocrati-nextgen_pro_sidescroll” height=”400″ display_type_view=”default” captions_enabled=”0″ captions_display_sharing=”1″ captions_display_title=”1″ captions_display_description=”1″ captions_animation=”slideup” order_by=”pid” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”500″]LINEBACKER DEVIN BUSH STARS: Defensive coordinator Brown indicated postgame that Devin Bush was outstanding. Dr. Blitz indicated: “He’s a mature guy. And football’s important to him. He’s from a football family. It’s so nice when you have a nice guy and he can play in two different spots. You can ask some guys to do that, and they look at you like, Are you kidding me? But he handled that really, really well.”

Khaleke Hudson can play with the best of them at safety or LB.

Lone returnee McCray is solid. Brown also said they are still looking for a 4th LB and that it may be Michael Wroblewski.

DL: The starters are solid. Gary, Hurst , and Mone can be great players this season and I think the DL will be a solid base. I interviewed Rashan Gary (was among the post-game scrum listening to him post game) and I asked him his take on the looming visit to Rome. He is totally enthusiastic, all in, and thinks it will be a great experience. It is an experience not available to most football players.

This line could approach the effectiveness of last year’s. At least Rashan Gary thinks so, and he may be right.

DBs: Benjamin St. Juste, Ambry Thomas, Brandon Watson (Int) had their moments, and gained some experience. Safety Tyree Kinnel played a good game. He led the Maize with 7 tackles, and left some bruises. He hits. Khaleke Hudson was outstanding.

SPECIAL TEAMS: A couple of drops marred the special team’s performance. Nate Johnson dropped a fair catch, probably due to the glare of the sun. KO’s looked adequate, Tice kicked the extra points, and there was a ray of sunshine as Quinn Nordin hit a 48-yarder and made it look oh so easy. A 21-yard FG won the game for the Maize. Hitting of returners was not allowed.

NOTES: The Wolverines will complete their practices in Rome. This constitutes another innovative Harbaugh first. Coach Brown indicated post game that the purpose of the Spring football game is to identify personnel. It is not necessarily a valid evaluator of the worth of a team. Coach Harbaugh was not available at the post game presser, leaving the chore to Brown and Drevno. The quarters of the game were 12 minutes long. The crowd was estimated at 50,000 plus. It was a perfect April football day. At the half, the 2017 recruits were introduced. Jake Butt received the 2016 Mackey Trophy which recognizes the best tight end in the country.

TAKEAWAY: The Wolverines seem to have more athletic players at more positions than before. That advantage is tempered by lack of experience. Can they be coached up enough to win away from home, to battle Florida successfully in their tough season opener? As the work progresses we will get a better idea.

Andy is a Michigan graduate and long time Michigan Football fan, having attended games during the tenures of Fritz Crisler, Bennie Oosterbaan, Bump Elliot, Bo Schembechler, Gary Moeller, Lloyd Carr, Rich Rodriguez, and Brady Hoke. He attempts to present articles consistent with the concerns and interests of Michigan Fans.

Despite the tough loss against the Iowa Hawkeyes and having key injuries occur, the Wolverines are still in the hunt for a Big Ten Championship and more importantly still in control for a national title after three of the top five teams crumbled this past weekend. However, Michigan suffered their first loss which has left no room for error and must win out, possibly without their starting quarterback.

Kinnick Stadium was everything that we expected. It was very possible that they could have lost. But no one expected that they would be handed their first lost in Iowa City. Some even thought that it was our “first tough” road game (apparently playing in East Lansing is no big deal). With it being a night game, the underperforming Hawkeyes, who started 17th in the preseason AP poll rankings, played like they had nothing to lose and insisted to ruin our season with a last second field goal. After the game, senior captains defensive end Chris Wormley and John Mackey Award semifinalist Jake Butt greeted the media in disbelief but remained hopeful for the remainder of the season.

“When it comes down to it, we didn’t make the plays we needed,” Wormley said. “Plain and simple, they made more plays than us. A few things went their way. Looking at today, we’ll look back at the film, see what we did wrong, see what we did right. Figure out those things. But at the end of the day that we lost.”

“We left a lot of opportunities, a lot of plays out on the field today,” Butt said. “There were some big plays we left out on the field. We’re just going to have to look in the mirror, look at the film, and become better because of this. There’s really no excuse. There’s absolutely no excuse. We’ve got to be a lot better than we were today.”

Harbaugh stressed to the team after the game that it’s not over yet and that their goals are still ahead of them.

“Just keep going,” Wormley said. “We’ve got two more games left. We win those two, we’re right where we need to be. Just got to get those done. There’s a lot of things we left out there, a lot of things we could have done better. We’ll watch the film and continue to keep working.”

The fourth quarter was an absolute mess for the Wolverines’. Not only could they uncharacteristically stop the run but they would suffer multiple injuries as well. One being the heart of the secondary, Delano Hill who left the game with an undisclosed injury. Both Channing Stribling and Wilton Speight also injured their shoulders. It appears that Striblings’ injury is nothing too serious to be worried about but Speights’ shoulder has me a little concerned regarding the rest of the season.

There have been non-stop rumors of him being questionable for the Wolverines final home game against Indiana to him being declared out for the season. But Harbaugh is denying anything that is circulating around and currently saying that “its day-to-day thing right now”. We may not even know till the afternoon kickoff if he’s even able to play or not. To be honest, it’s sounding a lot like his decision when he announced the season starter before the opening game against Hawaii.

If Speight is out for this week, John O’Korn is likely to step in and showcase as to why he should’ve gotten the call as the starter. So, who the hell is O’Korn?

O’Korn started his freshman year at Houston, passing for 3,117 yards and 28 touchdowns in 2013 while leading the Cougars to an 8-5 record on the year. Even though his first year went well, his sophomore year didn’t go as planned. O’Korn then lost the job to Greg Ward Jr. after a 2-3 start his sophomore year. Houston would go 6-2 the rest of the way as O’Korn watched from the sideline. He then transferred to Michigan and had to sit out a year due his transfer which was made official in February of 2015.

Many people had believed that O’Korn might have been the better option for his ability to scramble out of the pocket and make big plays down the field. Quite frankly there is an argument for that case. O ‘Korn is a pro-style quarterback who fits the Michigan system better than the spread at Houston. But Harbaugh knows his quarterbacks and it obviously showed what separated the two QBs’ apart as Speight progressed every game and led the team to a 9-0 record before falling to Iowa.

“He watches film after practice probably more than anybody I have seen at the college level, which is weird for someone who isn’t asked to play as much as he does (because) he’s not the starter,” U-M co-captain Chris Wormley said Tuesday night after practice. “I guess doing that for the past 2-3 months, it’s going to help him out big-time, starting Saturday.”

It’s frightening to know that it is November and a new quarterback may be taking over the helm with two of the most important games remaining on the schedule. O’Korn is a hard worker and by the sounds of it has been waiting for his opportunity to come knocking at the door. He doesn’t have to play great this weekend. He must be consistent, smart and protect the football. If his teammates believe in him, so should we.

The mood amongst the large gathering of Michigan fans who made the trip to Iowa City was one of concern and annoyance. I spent a large portion of the night looking at others in Maize and Blue shaking my head in disbelief. Iowa’s only viable path for winning a game against a vastly superior Wolverine squad was unfolding in front of our eyes. The evening turned on a punt, which had to be Kirk Ferentz’s dream scenario. Late in the first half Ron Coluzzi pinned Michigan at their 1 yard line. Two plays later a ridiculous safety turned an annoying 10-0 lead into a contest. Iowa then scored again to make the score 10-8 at halftime. Ferentz and his Hawkeyes had the exact game they needed: a slop fest.

The Iowa offense put up 9 points through 58 minutes of play. Michigan’s lead was just two at that juncture thanks to the offense’s worst outing of the year. Speight had uncharacteristically misfired on one open deep shot after another, any of which would’ve sealed the game. Chris Evans averaged 6.5 yards per carry on 8 touches, but was noticeably absent in the final drives of the game. In spite of the offensive struggles, Michigan’s defense made the play that should have closed out the game. Taco Charlton hit CJ Beathard as he released a deep pass and Channing Stribling intercepted the under thrown ball on Michigan’s 16 yard line. With 1:54 left in the game, Michigan’s offense trotted on to the field 10 yards away from pulling out a win on the road and headed to 10-0. They were just 10 yards away.

This team had been in this position before. Against Michigan State in 2015, the Michigan defense came up with a huge stop and the offense took over with 1:47 on the clock. Again, 10 yards away from sealing a win. Twice in the last two seasons the team has failed to pick up 10 yards when it truly mattered to seal a football game. Understand that many many factors contributed to this loss and this is not to short change any of them. BUT, despite the poor offensive play and the truly appalling officiating the Wolverines had the ball and the lead with under two minutes to go. Victory was in their grasp and it slipped away.

The Final Offensive Series

Let’s take a look at that final offensive series starting with 1st and 10 on the Michigan 16 yard line.

Eddie McDoom is circled and DeVeon Smith is the RB. Desmond King (#14) and Bo Bower (#41) call out the formation and the defensive backfield adjusts for the sweep. Based on how this play unfolded it wouldn’t have mattered which running back (Smith, Higdon, Evans, or Isaac) was receiving the carry. Here’s why:

McDoom motions across the formation like a jet sweep. Iowa’s defense responds to this by doing the exact opposite of what we’ve seen in previous weeks. The corner responsible for McDoom does not go flying across the formation in pursuit and the linebackers do not shift at all. Instead, the safety comes up to take McDoom and everyone else stays home.

If McDoom gets the ball I think there is a decent chance he gets the corner. Instead Smith is plowing into two unblocked linebackers and King. Any yardage gained here is a miracle as four offensive players are blocking against seven defenders.

Charity Podcast

2019 OT Logan Brown (6-6, 280) from Grand Rapids (MI) East Kentwood os VERY, VERY high on Michigan. He's the #5 OL and #28 overall player in 2019 class (according to Rivals). Michigan has 3 players in top 30 for 2019 and lead for 3 more, including #1 OL Devontae Dobbs (6-4, 270) from Belleville […]

2019 and 5-star DE Chris Hinton (6-4, 265) from Norcross (Ga.) Greater Atlanta Christian announced his commitment to Michigan on Saturday night.He's rated as the #1 DE in the 2019 class and #9 overall player. Go Blue!!

JT Daniels, who is #1 QB in the 2019 class out of California (Mater Dei), must be having a good time at the BBQ because he just released his top 4, and Michigan made the cut. Along with Stanford, Washington and USC.Go Blue!!

Andy is a Michigan graduate and long time Michigan Football fan, having attended games during the tenures of Fritz Crisler, Bennie Oosterbaan, Bump Elliot, Bo Schembechler, Gary Moeller, Lloyd Carr, Rich Rodriguez, and Brady Hoke. He attempts to present articles consistent with the concerns and interests of Michigan Fans.